Track record evaluation acts as one of the most powerful gate keepers in academia. Institutions and funders can develop their CV requirements alongside their evaluation practices:

• Define clearly what role CVs play in the overall evaluation and how they are weighted alongside other documents such as project proposals, for example. For each section of a CV, make sure the person filling it in and the one evaluating it understand exactly what it should contain and how it should be evaluated by providing both with the same guidelines.
• Distinguish between achievements realized by the researcher and those endowed upon them by others in order to minimize the Matthew effect in evaluators.
• In order to not reward established researchers perpetually, prioritize current and directly relevant information over historical achievements, even when those may be more prestigious.
• Less is more. Limit the number of achievements and outputs in CVs.
• Recognize and reward a wide range of outputs to foster a more diverse and inclusive research culture. Singling out one type of output, such as publications for example, discounts the richness of research and the many forms through which it can impact academia and society.
• Balance and control incentives. Many laudable policies and incentives bear unintended hidden risks if they are not carefully balanced and implemented. For example, only allowing open access publications on CVs submitted to funding organizations may have opportunity costs if equally valuable aspects such as advancing teaching, diversity and equality, collaboration, sustainability, reproducibility or public engagement are not explicitly required to obtain funding.
• Use the academic age not the biological age of researchers. Including a researcher’s biological age in a CV propagates biases and can discriminate against women, younger and older researchers.
• Encourage narratives instead of lists. Incorporate a narrative section into a CV. Listed items can provide a quick and wellstructured overview but they also entice evaluators to count instead of read, which in turn can favor snap judgements over indepth evaluation.
• Use metrics cautiously. Implement metrics carefully to avoid misuse and make sure evaluators are well aware of their respective definitions and limitations.
• Use established open and interoperable data standards and systems. CV data is valuable as it allows for the analysis of an institution’s policy and performance as well as researcher career statistics.

Leading open discussions can help create a more collaborative environment by allowing team members to share not only their successes, but also their "failures." This helps build respect and trust within the research team by being open about it and providing support when things don't always go smoothly.

A good team culture counteracts stress, insecurity and toxic behavior and lets team members do a better job. In particular, a good team culture has the following characteristics:

• Equality: all team members have an equal opportunity and time to talk
• Participation: All team members are given attention
• Empathy: All team members are shown understanding.

Share data, experiences, materials with team members. Hold regular team meetings to discuss not only content, but also collaboration and potential for conflict. Express appreciation and create spaces to address conflicts in a safe environment. Make time for discussions and training that are not directly related to your (research) work, but that will help you move forward as a team. Be aware that a good team culture is a constant task. You can make a team member responsible for monitoring the team culture and for organizing team events.

Giving good advice can be difficult. Think about where you can give good advice.

• Decide what you are good at and focus on offering advice or help in those areas. Be willing to say that you are not the best person to ask about X, and suggest another person who may be better on that topic.
• There are two types of help you can offer people: Help that is directly related to the progress of their career and help that is psychologically tinged and supportive. Think ahead about which type of help you want to use your skills for.
• Decide how much time you are willing to invest.- Be willing to look at things from the point of view of the person you are talking to, even if that is not your point of view or approach. Think about what seems possible for that person, given what they have told you about themselves.